Labour Budget Calculator

Work out labour budget instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About Labour Budget Calculator

A labour budget is salaries grossed up by the benefits load — employer taxes, pension, insurance, leave — plus contingent labour. The fully loaded cost per FTE is the number to use in any make-or-buy, outsourcing or business-case comparison.

Formulas

Loaded employee cost

Loaded = Headcount x Average salary x (1 + Benefits load %)

Total budget

Total = Loaded employee cost + Contractor spend

Worked example

With the default values below, Labour Budget Calculator returns Total labour budget of $330,000,000.00. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Headcount: 180
Average annual salary: 1,250,000
Benefits and employer taxes: 28
Contractor and agency spend: 42,000,000

Results

Total labour budget: $330,000,000.00
Fully loaded employee cost: $288,000,000.00
Benefits and employer taxes: $63,000,000.00
Fully loaded cost per FTE: $1,600,000.00

Step by step

1Values used
2Loaded employee cost
3Total budget
4Total labour budget= 330,000,000.00
5Fully loaded employee cost= 288,000,000.00
6Benefits and employer taxes= 63,000,000.00
7Fully loaded cost per FTE= 1,600,000.00

Assumptions and limits

The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
In particular, this calculator does not take inflation into account.
Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a typical benefits load?

20-35% in most jurisdictions, higher where social insurance contributions are large or where defined-benefit pensions apply.

Should contractors be converted to FTE?

Yes for capacity planning. Divide contractor spend by the loaded cost per FTE to see how much establishment it represents.